Emptied of colour and stark in contrast, these images are in an active state of transformation and dissolution. They suggest something beyond evanescence—an unmooring perhaps, or a sense that life is as much syncope as it is experience.

— Frank Rodick

Text by Don Snyder, Ryerson School of Image Arts:

In a world of disturbing images, the general body of photography is bland, dealing complacently with nature and treating our preconceptions as insights. Strange, private worlds rarely slip past our guard from this quarter. This is probably not good for mankind; it is certainly unfortunate for photography. To set this right will take many photographers who face the disturbing image….— Henry Holmes Smith

This passage, a response to Frederick Sommer’s photograph The Sacred Wood, seems particularly apt as an introduction to Frank Rodick’s new series, untitled selves, scheduled for its first Toronto showing during CONTACT 2018. Rodick’s work sets out to “face the disturbing image” in the same way that Sommer did, tapping into the same expressive traditions, and mapping out many aspects of the same psychological terrain.

Current photographic practice has become highly self-reflexive and imitative, with dramatized, narrative tableau imagery occupying much of the center stage in the photographic world. The originality and strength of Rodick’s approach is that it bypasses this way of working, and instead grounds itself in the complex realm of visual and expressive metaphor.

Curated jointly by the photographer and by Ryerson faculty member Don Snyder, the exhibition will be coordinated with Ryerson’s CONTACT-related academic activities during the spring of 2018. Rodick will present guest lectures and lead discussions on the exhibition throughout the month of the CONTACT festival.

Don Snyder has an extensive background in photographic history, critical studies and curation. Before joining the Ryerson faculty, he held an appointment as Curator of Photography at the Addison Gallery of American Art, where he originated the museum's photography exhibition program. At Ryerson, he established the Image Arts (IMA) Gallery, and was instrumental in the founding of Function, the School's annual publication of student work, essays and interviews. He has taught at both undergraduate and graduate levels, and served as Chair of the School from 2005-2010.